The Brightside: Rehabilitating Wildlife

CHESTER, Md. – Have you ever seen an animal in the wild such as a squirrel, a bunny, or a possum? Well, what do you do if they’re hurt or need help? If you aren’t sure, there are people, such as one Maryland woman, Bonnie, who dedicates her life to rehabilitating wildlife.

Little creatures, wildlife, living in Bonnie Peele’s home are heard scurrying around waiting to be fed every morning by, what she may be considered to them as their savior. “After they open their eyes, they’re still in an incubator environment but, they are precious to me, I adore them.” Peele explains, “At dawn, squirrels are awake, they start moving around in the cage, and of course, I’m right there and I hear it, that’s my signal, I’m hungry.”

What started as a hobby growing up formed an itch she finally had to scratch. Peele, who is now a certified friend of all animals took her passion for furry friends to the most selfless level possible. “I’m a cancer patient and the distraction is very healthy, the obligation, the having to feed it, it’s going to starve if I don’t get up, get up Bonnie, get up Bonnie, so I get up and I feed it and it feeds me.”

Peele tells us she’s a master wildlife rehabilitator. “I had to volunteer 200 hours, I had to get 12 credit hours of continued education, had to have a vet, had to have the space and the equipment.” To be qualified to hold wildlife in her home was no easy task, but it’s because she is determined to rescue wildlife that she can now care for over 30 animals at a time; From squirrels to possums and occasional bunnies, Peele’s work never stops.

“So a brand new baby, which we call pinkies, five or six times a day they’re fed in 24 hours so it’s a lot of repetition,” explains Peele. “I do cages three times a day, and that’s removing linens, wiping bars, I have to keep it clean. Probably four loads of laundry a day, two big loads of dishes a day, I mix formula every other day, so I do about half a gallon at a time.”

Some come in injured, whether because of a run-in with a dog, or a bird of prey, or from simply trying to cross the road – to losing their parent before they were of age…Peele says she’s seen these furry animals through every stage possible. “I don’t get up in the middle of the night without walking past every animal, I have a little flashlight and I look in there and check everybody out.”

Feeding each animal multiple times a day, bandaging their wounds, or simply giving them comfort while they heal – we’re told caring for them goes beyond getting to pet ‘cute’ animals. Peele says she’s helping to maintain the wildlife population in our area.

Part of what she does is possible because of other wildlife rehabilitators, and community supporters. “We’re so supportive of each other, we share medications, we share strategies, we share animals, we beg borrow, and steal from each other, we pray for each other.” She goes on to say, “Without the bucket of formula, I have nothing to feed, without someone finding the animal, I have nothing to use for the formula, so the community is what makes it work.”

We asked Peele how she could say goodbye to those little guys after spending so much time caring for them, to which she replied it was always her goal – to get them back to their homes – safe. “They were interrupted, they don’t belong in my bedroom. There’s no better high than when you send them back out there, that’s the feel-good part, that’s the reward, that’s my why.”

To learn more about becoming a wildlife rehabilitator, visit Maryland DNR, and to find a rehabilitator near you call 1-877-463-6497.

For Delaware rehabilitator resources, click here.